Search - Nguyen Le :: Walking on a Tiger's Tail (Dig)

Sublime, Boundary Breaking Recording

Brian Whistler | Forestville, CA United States | 03/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The intent of the artist is the same as that of the sorceror: It is the act of making something out of nothing"



This ecstatic, amazing and inspired music, this lightening bolt of AHA! against the midnight sky of smooth jazz post 90's mono directional mediocrity, this authentic record embodies that most rare and wonderful of things: a mature work by an artist with a truly original voice.



This CD plays with all the elements, dark and light, heaven and earth,water and fire, performing a balancing act of opposites. Hallowed but familiar ground, it's all there: Nguyen Le fans will recognize the organic forms, compositional savvy, intellectual prowess (plus balls to the wall guitar licks) in league with a manic genius intuition. A rare combination indeed!! This CD is a valuable addition to the collection of any enthusiast or novitiate. My non-jazz loving girlfriend even liked it!! (Parts, anyway...)



ArT LaNde and Paul McCandless reprise their wonderful association with Mr Le, first documented on his second solo album, "Zanzibar". While Zanzibar (sadly out of print) is a Le classic, full of thorny compositions and marvelously interactive playing, "Walking" is a completely 21st century statement, a reinvention of their earlier work and then some, highlighting the individual maturation of three radically under-appreciated modern musicians. "Walking" is infused with pan-asian, african, european, middleastern and mediterranean elements, influences that span the history of jazz and go far back to its common roots in world music. These are just some of the exotic ingredients of this heady musical stew, which steams across the continents, fleet footed and free. There are no boundaries for these veteran travelers: the whole planet is their musical turf.



There is no bass player on this project. At first I was afraid that it would lack punch in the bottom, but all four players pick up the role at different times, giving this session a decidely open feel it would not have had with a more conventional treatment of the bass.



No egos, no bloated parades, no guitar hero grandstanding here- just beautiful compositions by one of the most unique voices in modern improvised music, accompanied by two sympatico fellow innovators, longtime compatriots from a continent away. Special mention must be made of a newcomer to this listener,versatile and supple percussionist/drummer Jamey Haddad. The result is at times stark, seductive,warm, entrancing, unsettling, sublime, inside/outside, yet strangely familiar and always, always engaging. Hunt down this CD, and in the end this quarry will become your old friend, your family, your refuge."

Everything coming together quite nicely

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 01/31/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am very taken by this music. Nguyên Lê, with a handful of outstanding discs, here tops anything he's previously done, including the entirely remarkable Bakida.



First off, he's landed on perhaps his ultimate band. Let's be clear here: Paul McCandless, a wonderful wind player, doesn't really play jazz. And that's entirely OK. What he plays is a kind of classically oriented folksy/New Agey/jazzy assortment of wind instruments. And play them very well, I might add. Art Lande, a marvelous pianist, often seems to find himself in contexts not entirely suited to his pianistic genius. Not here, though. Maybe it's because he's played so much with Lê and McCandless that he achieves an entirely apposite pianistic approach, rhythmically sophisticated, delicately swinging, and quite soulful.



Jimmy Haddad has long been considered among the absolute masters of sophisticated jazz percussion among those in the know. And if he, like Lande, hasn't always found the optimal setting to display his formidable chops, he's certainly found it here.



Leader Lê, always seeking to situate himself in challenging musical environments, here maps out a sophisticated world jazz aesthetic. This kind of thing, often tried and seldom completely pulled off, can only work if the leader has a crystal clear concept combined with a huge musical horizon, which Lê has. It was a risk to record without a bassist, but the challenge yields big rewards. With the various instruments sharing bottom duties, the music is somehow emancipated to achieve a looseness and freedom unimaginable with a bassist: there's an airiness, a diaphanousness quality, that attractively pervades these proceedings.



A remarkable disc, eminently worth acquiring."

Philosophical Reflection on the meaning of surviving

o dubhthaigh | north rustico, pei, canada | 04/05/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nguyen Le has turned in another ruminative consideration of the spiritual quality of life, this time ably assisted by Paul McCandless and others, inspired by his own close call with cancer. As he has done in works ranging from the Hendrix tribute Colour of Purple to his mystical Tales From Viet Nam, and in all his work with his partner Huong Thanh from Moon and Wind through Dragonfly to Mangustao, he has given the guitar a unique voice. No easy task. That voice speaks like the writinigs of Thich Naht Hanh, and seeks to utter that quiet space where what is most fundamentally true remains silent. In considering this paradox, Le articulates in lines more Viet Namese and Buddhist than anything in the Western tradition of Jazz, save perhaps where Coltrane was beginning to go at the end of his life.

Add McCandless and his soulful oboe and reed work, which seemed to first catch my ears in the Paul Winter Consort's epochal ICARUS, and you have a contemplation of critical moments in life that re-direct your intentionality. This is brilliant music."